Public Procurement and Very Private Benefits
Title:
Public Procurement and Very Private Benefits
Word Count:
2221
Summary:
In every national budget, there is a part called "Public Procurement". This is the portion of
Keywords:
Article Body:
In every national budget, there is a part called "Public Procurement". This is the portion of
This, precisely, is the problem with public procurement: people are too acquainted with the pu
Procurement is divided to defence and non-defence spending. In both these categories - but, es
Government - from India’s to Sweden’s to Belgium’s - fell because of procurement scandals whic
But the picture is not that grim. Most governments in the West succeeded in reigning in and fu
There are many problems with public procurement. It is an obscure area of state activity, agre
The truth is completely different.
True, some ministers use public money to build their private "empires". It could be a private
Then, there are problems of plain corruption: bribes or commissions paid to decision makers in
But, these, with all due respect to "clean hands" operations and principles, are not the main
The first order problem is the allocation of scarce resources. In other words, prioritizing. T
The second problem is the supervision, auditing and control of actual spending. This has two d
1.. How to make sure that the expenditures match and do not exceed the budgetary items. In s
2.. How to prevent the criminally corrupt activities that we have described above - or even
The most widespread method is the public, competitive, tender for the purchases of goods and s
But, this is not as simple as it sounds.
Some countries publish international tenders, striving to secure the best quality in the cheap
the size of the competing company, its track record, its ownership structure, its human rights
But all countries state in advance that they have no obligation to accept any kind of offer -
The tendering policies of most of the countries in the world also incorporates a second princi
Even if there is corruption in such purchases it is bound to cause less damage to the public p
So, in most countries, small purchases can be authorized by government officials - larger amou
Procurement policies, procedures and tenders are supervised by state auditing authorities. The
It is an unrelenting, very thorough and dangerous watchdog of the administration. It is consid
Another form of review of public procurement is through powers granted to the legislative arm
The most famous such committee is, arguably, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). It is famo
Its apparent - and real - neutrality makes its judgements and recommendations a commandment no
Both bodies produce learned, thickset, analyses, reports, criticism, opinions and recommendati
Only a few other parliaments have committees that carry such weight. The Israeli Knesset have
But not all countries chose the option of legislative supervision. Some of them relegated part
In Japan, the Ministry of Finance still scrutinizes (and has to authorize) the smallest expens
Britain opted to keep the discretion to use public funds and the clout that comes with it in t
Britain, under the previous, Tory, government also pioneered an interesting and controversial
Needless to say that no country officially approves of the payment of bribes or commission to
Yet, law aside many countries accept the intertwining of elites - business and political - as
Where there is money - there is wrongdoing. Humans are humans - and sometimes not even that.
But these unfortunate derivatives of social activity can be minimized by the adoption of clear
This is a demo version of txt2pdf v.10.1
Developed by SANFACE Software http://www.sanface.com/
Available at http://www.sanface.com/txt2pdf.html
Public Procurement and Very Private Benefits
Word Count:
2221
Summary:
In every national budget, there is a part called "Public Procurement". This is the portion of
Keywords:
Article Body:
In every national budget, there is a part called "Public Procurement". This is the portion of
This, precisely, is the problem with public procurement: people are too acquainted with the pu
Procurement is divided to defence and non-defence spending. In both these categories - but, es
Government - from India’s to Sweden’s to Belgium’s - fell because of procurement scandals whic
But the picture is not that grim. Most governments in the West succeeded in reigning in and fu
There are many problems with public procurement. It is an obscure area of state activity, agre
The truth is completely different.
True, some ministers use public money to build their private "empires". It could be a private
Then, there are problems of plain corruption: bribes or commissions paid to decision makers in
But, these, with all due respect to "clean hands" operations and principles, are not the main
The first order problem is the allocation of scarce resources. In other words, prioritizing. T
The second problem is the supervision, auditing and control of actual spending. This has two d
1.. How to make sure that the expenditures match and do not exceed the budgetary items. In s
2.. How to prevent the criminally corrupt activities that we have described above - or even
The most widespread method is the public, competitive, tender for the purchases of goods and s
But, this is not as simple as it sounds.
Some countries publish international tenders, striving to secure the best quality in the cheap
the size of the competing company, its track record, its ownership structure, its human rights
But all countries state in advance that they have no obligation to accept any kind of offer -
The tendering policies of most of the countries in the world also incorporates a second princi
Even if there is corruption in such purchases it is bound to cause less damage to the public p
So, in most countries, small purchases can be authorized by government officials - larger amou
Procurement policies, procedures and tenders are supervised by state auditing authorities. The
It is an unrelenting, very thorough and dangerous watchdog of the administration. It is consid
Another form of review of public procurement is through powers granted to the legislative arm
The most famous such committee is, arguably, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). It is famo
Its apparent - and real - neutrality makes its judgements and recommendations a commandment no
Both bodies produce learned, thickset, analyses, reports, criticism, opinions and recommendati
Only a few other parliaments have committees that carry such weight. The Israeli Knesset have
But not all countries chose the option of legislative supervision. Some of them relegated part
In Japan, the Ministry of Finance still scrutinizes (and has to authorize) the smallest expens
Britain opted to keep the discretion to use public funds and the clout that comes with it in t
Britain, under the previous, Tory, government also pioneered an interesting and controversial
Needless to say that no country officially approves of the payment of bribes or commission to
Yet, law aside many countries accept the intertwining of elites - business and political - as
Where there is money - there is wrongdoing. Humans are humans - and sometimes not even that.
But these unfortunate derivatives of social activity can be minimized by the adoption of clear
This is a demo version of txt2pdf v.10.1
Developed by SANFACE Software http://www.sanface.com/
Available at http://www.sanface.com/txt2pdf.html